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Dartmouth career sacks leader Anthony Gargiulo '06, has been named to the Immaculata (N.J.) High School athletic hall of fame. An honorable-mention All-Ivy League selection as a sophomore and a first-team pick as a junior and senior, the defensive end had 20 of his 25 sacks over his final two seasons with the Big Green. After originally choosing not to pursue pro football, he signed with the Calgary Stampeders a year after graduation and had five sacks, 21 tackles and a fumble recovery in just 10 games before his career was essentially ended by a horrific leg injury. From his high school Hall of Fame news release (LINK):
Anthony Gargiulo distinguished himself as a Spartan defensive standout, which led to his outstanding career at Dartmouth College, followed by a stint of professional international football. Anthony is a senior account executive with Metropolitan Life and serves as a volunteer football coach for his hometown youth program.
While Gargiulo's pro career was cut short by a controversial block that broke his leg (STORY) (VIDEO), he left a lasting impression in Vancouver. (LINK)
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Check out whose lacrosse field shows up in the lead photo for a lengthy story in The Atlantic that will get you questioning the place of athletics at Ivy League schools, and the lengths parents will go to try to capitalize on athletic admissions. From the story with the subhead, Niche Sports Are No Longer An Ivy League Admission Plan," (LINK):
In 1988, the University of California sociologist Harry Edwards published an indictment of the “single-minded pursuit of sports” in Black communities. The “tragic” overemphasis on athletics at the expense of school and family, he wrote in Ebony magazine, was leaving “thousands and thousands of Black youths in obsessive pursuit of sports goals foredoomed to elude the vast and overwhelming majority of them.” ...
Thirty years later, in a twist worthy of a Jordan Peele movie, Fairfield County has come to resemble Compton in the monomaniacal focus on sports. “There’s no more school,” a parent from the town of Darien told me flatly. ...There’s no more church. No more friends. We gave it all up for squash.”
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Is there poetic justice in someone who doesn't seem to appreciate the importance of preventing COVID-19 from spreading coming down with the disease? No, I'm not getting political on you. From the Associated Press (LINK):
Florida coach Dan Mullen, who last week wanted 90,000 fans packed inside the stadium amid a pandemic, says he has tested positive for COVID-19.
Mullen made the announcement Saturday on Twitter, saying his initial positive result was confirmed by a second test. The 10th-ranked Gators had at least 21 players and coaches test positive earlier this week, an outbreak that prompted the Southeastern Conference to postpone Florida’s next two games.
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Each Saturday I post the BGA Premium preview of the week's Wood's Watch Party streaming video football game and each Sunday I post the BGA Premium game story as it appeared on the site, typos and stupid mistakes that I made notwithstanding. The game story from Towson is one of thousands of football, basketball, baseball, lacrosse – you name it – stories that I've written over the years and it's probably one of the strangest. As I read it back I wish I hadn't been on deadline and could have spent a little more time with it. Oh well. Consider yourself forewarned ;-)
Oct. 15 – Dartmouth Follows The Script In Dramatic Win Over Towson
MAKING A PLAY
By BGA
SYNOPSIS
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
ISIAH SWANN: A freshman corner making his first career start
VITO PENZA : A sophomore running back who has been in the shadows
BRUCE DIXON: A sophomore quarterback who makes the most of his chance
DAVID SMITH: A junior kicker with ice in his veins
RYDER STONE: A junior running back and good soldier ready when called upon
ABRM McQUARTERS: A senior running back and wily veteran
JEREMIAH DOUCHEE: A senior defensive lineman who has watched too much from the sideline
CHARLIE MILLER: A senior safety who quietly but effectively does his job
ALEX McCRORY: A senior linebacker who will leave the battlefield on his shield
ROB AMBROSE: The charismatic Towson coach who is generous in defeat.
EUGENE F. TEEVENS: The sage overseer
ENSEMBLE: Starters and backups, freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors
SETTING
Memorial Field, Hanover, NH. A small but loyal crowd populates the home grandstand. A tiny friends-and-family assemblage cheers on the visitors’ side and is joined by sun seekers rooting for the home team.
TIME
A beautiful fall afternoon in Week 5 of the football season. As clouds disappear the foliage on nearby Balch Hill comes alive.
ACT I
A high Dartmouth snap on the first play from scrimmages loses 19 yards to the Big Green 2. The Dartmouth offense goes three-and-out. On the punt Alex McCrory goes down with a serious leg injury. As he is carted off the field, he ignores his pain, raises a blue water bottle and shakes it violently at his teammates, exhorting them to carry on without him.
COACH TEEVENS: He was more upset that he was not going to play than he was about the injury. …He’s a fiery dude and that did, it kind of ignited and engaged people.
TOWSON takes a 7-0 lead midway through the first quarter on a 15-yard touchdown pass by less-than-mobile 241-pound quarterback Ellis Knudson
DARTMOUTH answers right back with 25-yard field goal by David Smith that caps a 57-yard drive featuring 5-for-5 passing by Jack Heneghan. The junior quarterback will finish with 14 completions in 21 attempts for just 96 yards. A surprising number of completions will be of the “shovel” pass variety.
COACH TEEVENS: I think he played within himself. … It was one of those games in which you couldn’t make a whole lot of mistakes. I thought he got us into good plays with frequency. … A cerebral guy. His numbers weren’t flashy but the number that counts is we had more points than they did.
ACT II
It is early in the second quarter. Towson has marched from its own 28 to midfield. It will commit nine penalties to just one for the home team and a hold has moved the Tigers back. They are facing a third-and-13 from their 47 when their quarterback steps up in the pocket and throws a pass that is intercepted by Swann at the Dartmouth 43. Swann will finish a busy day with a game-high 13 tackles, three pass breakups and an interception as he positions himself well in the race for Ivy League rookie of the week.
COACH TEEVENS: There’s young guys, inexperienced guys playing a bunch, but they are playing well. We talked about that the other day. We’ve got talent. It was nice that Isiah Swann step up in place of Darius George. They went after him and he responded effectively.
DARTMOUTH drives across midfield to the Towson 38 where it faces a fourth-and-one. Twice a week earlier the Big Green came up short in similar situations. This is a critical point in the game. Penza takes a handoff from Heneghan and runs for three yards behind Matt Kaskey and John Kilcommons. Penza, who saw his first action at Yale seven days before but did not have a run from scrimmage this fall, will go on to carry 10 times for 25 important yards. On the next play Dixon, in his first significant action of the season, will make a one-play cameo and run 12 yards for a first down at the 23.
COACH TEEVENS: The running backs. I mentioned Penza. I thought he ran hard and physically. He picked up some solid yards and much needed first downs. Dixon … gets in and executes when he needs to. It was by pre-design. We said he was going to play this week. … He would have played more had we snapped the ball more. He did what he was asked to do.
DARTMOUTH takes a 10-7 lead three plays after Dixon’s run. There is are just over nine minutes left in the second quarter when Penza takes an option pitch from Heneghan and runs four yards over the right side behind blocks from Zach Davis and Dave Morrison. Smith kicks the extra point. The Big Green will go on to make it 13-7 when Colin Boit comes up from his safety spot and tackles Deshaun Wethington (27 carries for 145 yards) for a loss on a fourth-and-one at the Towson 44. Given good field position, the Big Green drives to the 22 and Smith comes on to boot a 38-yard field goal.
TOWSON takes over at its own 20 with 56 seconds left in the first half and Knudson completes six consecutive passes as the Tigers march to the Dartmouth 36. There are 14 seconds left before the break when Knudson (29-for-46 for 305 yards with on touchdown and two interceptions) looks, and looks, and then is swallowed up by Dartmouth linebacker Flo Orimolade for a six-yard loss. Time runs out and the threat is quashed. Orimolade will finish with seven tackles and the highest of praise from the Towson coach who did not recruit him but wishes he had.
COACH AMBROSE: "He is one of the best football players I’ve seen on film in the past decade.”
ACT III
Towson takes the second half kickoff. It drives down the field and faces a third-and-eight at the Dartmouth 26. Wethington gets seven yards but is stopped one yard shy of a first down on a tackle by Brandon Cooper.
TEEVENS: I thought Brandon Cooper played very, very well today. … He’s a guy, another quiet warrior. He just gets in, they snap the ball, and he goes and plays.
TOWSON finally within 13-10 when Ambrose, who likes to roll the dice, chooses this time sends out his kicker for a 36-yard field goal after Cooper’s big stop.
DARTMOUTH gets a 24-yard kickoff return by Hunter Hagdorn and two snaps later a 40-yard run from scrimmage by Stone to advance the ball to the Towson 23. Stone, who hasn’t had as many carries as some might have expected this fall, gets 14 on this day and runs for 90 yards. It is the exact number of yards he had against Towson’s fellow CAA member New Hampshire. He will also catch a team-high five passes.
TEEVENS: He’s a wonderful example of the team player we talk about. What role are you cast in and how do you perform it? … He’d love to get more touches and so forth. He’s been doing this his whole career. Just very, very steady. Not flashy, but steady. He’ll pop a big run, break way. He’ll make a critical block. He’s kind of unnoticed on occasion. I’m happy for him. He’s a consummate team player and he’s a leader of the bunch, too.
DARTMOUTH takes a 20-10 lead one play after Stone’s big run as McQuarters takes a backward pass from Heneghan in front of the Towson bench and completes his first career attempt, a 23-yard touchdown throw to Drew Hunnicutt.
TEEVENS: The theme of the week was make a play. And when we had to make a play, we did. Abrm McQuarters coming on. We had a play we worked on – (assistant coaches) Keith Clark and Chris Rorke designed it with Jerry Taylor and it worked to perfection.
TOWSON closes to 20-17 after a rare Heneghan mistake. His interception at the Dartmouth 31 is returned to the 11 and Wethington runs in from the 1 with 1:44 left in the third. Neither team will score again but the drama will continue to build.
ACT IV
A perfectly placed 31-yard punt by Ben Kepley is downed by Bun Straton at the Towson 1 with 9:56 remaining in regulation. Faced with a fourth-and-one at their own 27 with 7:48 remaining Ambrose this time indeed rolls the dice and goes for it. With bulky quarterback Knudson split wide, Wethington takes the snap and runs for two yards and a first down out of the wildcat.
AMBROSE: It’s hero or zero, right? I went for it before and we didn’t get it. We got stuffed. That’s part of the deal. Everybody gets to Monday Morning quarterback me based on what it finishes as. For those back home or anyone else who has followed me, I’m rather unconventional and go with the flow of the game. We knew we were going to have to keep going against a good offense to be able to have a chance to win that late in the game. It really wasn’t much of a decision to think about whether we were going to do it or not.
TOWSON marches to the Dartmouth 5 where it is stopped for no gain on consecutive plays as Nick Tomkins stones Wethington on first down and Lucas Bavaro does the same on second down. Linebacker Jack Traynor’s coverage forces an overthrow on third down. It is a gut-check, a goal line stand by a young defense that recalls another a year ago at Harvard by a much more veteran defense.
TEEVENS: You’ve got to compete and scratch and claw every time you get on the football field. … In the past (two losses) maybe guys were looking around. Well, if they look inwardly they can make a play. There were a bunch of new names that popped up today and they made plays.
TOWSON kicker Aidan O’Neill, who had not missed a field goal under 50 yards this fall, has his 22-yard, chip shot attempt to tie the game blocked by Miller coming off the left side with 2:19 remaining to preserve Dartmouth’s three-point lead.
MILLER: The first PAT they had earlier in the game they blocked down pretty hard. Swanny, our corner, almost got off the edge so I knew they were going to be even more wary of him. So I knew it was going to open up. It opened up, I jumped over the leg and stuck my left hand out. I missed about five tackles on that last drive so I thought I’d make up for it.
TOWSON uses its final two timeouts and after surrendering one first down forces a punt. The Tigers take over at their 28 with 33 seconds remaining. They complete two passes, the second a 20-yarder to the Dartmouth 39 that sees the Big Green players rush the field as the clock hits zero. The celebration is premature. Officials put one second back on the clock and O’Neill trots out onto the field to try a 56-yard desperation kick to force overtime.
AMBROSE: I could have thrown a Hail Mary but Aidan does have the leg to get this done and, for the five minutes beforehand, if I look out at the flagpole, the wind is blowing pretty good, too. He was two yards past his max depth when there’s no wind. So we figured that was a greater percentage for us to have a chance.
DARTMOUTH fans, the few who took in the drama, are roaring as O’Neill lines up his kick. Douchee’s big paw makes sure it will not break their hearts.
DOUCHEE: Coach T harped on us all week about making a play. That was the opportunity. We brought back (Zach) Husain … and he did a phenomenal job clearing up the guard. I just got through there and put the left hand up and things worked out. It was a great way to end the game. I think I ran 80 yards after it.
DARTMOUTH will now bring momentum into its final five games, all in Ivy League play, and new confidence.
STONE: That was something we were lacking these last two weeks – was confidence as a whole group. This really helps us just kind of build as a team. I think we really grew up. Coach said it right at the end of the game. That was a growing up game. We kind of grew up for lack of a better term. We stepped up and made some really good plays at the end and I think that brought us a lot closer as a team. I think moving forward we understand what we need to do to win, and we are going to do a much better job of it.
– THE END –
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EXTRA POINT
I did a halftime interview on Columbia radio one year and the fellow doing the interview kindly said I seemed like someone who might have had the opportunity to move on to a larger market and why have I stuck around the Upper Valley for as long as I have. I answered by reaching into my pocket to pull out my key ring, pointing out that I have a key to my car but have no idea where to find a key to my house. I told him we've gone away on vacation for two or three weeks and not locked the doors, and in fact locked the house just once in the 20 or so years we lived there only to find ourselves locked out that time . . . because we couldn't find a key.
I have to admit, I was a bit taken aback when he said to me off air with a grin, "You do realize you told the entire city of New York that your house is unlocked, right?" Of course, I also realized there probably wasn't anyone listening to Columbia football who was terribly interested in whether I had anything worth stealing. (I don't ;-)
I found myself thinking about that yesterday when Mrs. BGA and I stopped by a local farm to buy a couple of steaks, some other meats and cheese and such. The "farm store," was actually a bathroom-sized room tucked into an ancient barn with barely enough room for one repurposed Coca-Cola cooler. After picking out our purchases we stepped up to a counter and told the young woman sitting at a table further back in the barn we were ready to check out. She never left her seat and in fact barely looked up as she told us there was a calculator on the counter, to punch in our purchases and pay the total either with a card or cash. There was register almost as old as the barn next to the self-serve card reader. She said if we paid cash to make our own change.
For those of you who remember my radio interview a few years ago, I'm pretty they lock the door to the little farm store each night. But here's the thing: I'm not sure they have to.
Somehow this video shot on the Dartmouth green recently and posted on the Big Green football website the other day seems like the right way to end this Extra Point. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday.
